What's in a Name?
by Bramblerose4
Summary: Makoto recalls something from his and Haruka's past. Light fluff.


**What's in a Name?**

"Hm?" Makoto turned his head towards the playground and realized his mistake two seconds too late. He thought someone had called out for him but it was only a little boy racing towards his parents.

Nagisa was the first to notice when Makoto's attention had been drawn to the play area. "Is something wrong, Mako-chan?" Nagisa asked, looking behind him. He twirled on one foot so he was facing the taller swimmer.

"What? No." Makoto answered too quickly to be believable.

Nagisa smiled, sensing that Makoto was hiding something from him. "Oh really?" the blond's teasing tone made the rest of the team stop and turn back to see what all the commotion was about.

"It's nothing, really." Makoto tried to reassure them, but he knew that his friends weren't going to let him go that easily. His gaze went from Nagisa's smirk to Rei's curious tilt of the head and finally to Haruka's steady gaze, quietly questioning him. Makoto's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Fine, I thought I heard someone calling me. But it was just a kid looking for his parents." He sighed when everyone gave him a strange look. He looked down at his feet and he continued. "I guess it was just a memory coming back to me," he raised his head and caught Haruka watching him. "Do you remember, Haru?"

Rei and Nagisa's heads whipped over to see Haruka's reaction that Makoto was worried they had injured their necks. Haruka blinked and leaned back, looking off to the left towards the playground as he thought. His eyes widened and posture straightened and Makoto knew he had figured it out.

The others noticed it, too.

"What does he mean, Haruka-sempai?" Rei asked, adjusting his glasses so they sat higher on the bridge of his nose.

"It's when Makoto and I first met," Haruka started but didn't elaborate.

"Oo, what happened? Was it friends at first sight?" Nagisa asked excitedly.

"No, not quite," Makoto couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled to the surface. He never knew where Nagisa got his strange ideas. _Manga, maybe?_ He shook his head. He couldn't believe he was about to tell this story. "When we first met Haruka we were in pre-school and he couldn't really say my name, so he gave me a new one."

"And, what was it?"

Makoto opened his mouth to say the name, but his face became hot and nothing came out. He looked over at Haruka, pleading with him for help. He was surprised to find there was a light shade of pink over the raven haired teen's cheeks.

"Mama," Haruka stated, keeping his voice even, though Makoto could detect the sound of fondness in his tone.

It sounded odd coming out of a much older Haruka, but Makoto still felt the tug in the pit of his stomach when he said it. It had been so long since he had heard Haruka use that name, Makoto couldn't help but give his best friend a shy smile. He was pleased to know that Haruka had indeed remembered.

There was a moment of silence as the team took in Makoto's unfortunate nickname before Nagisa broke out laughing and even Rei was covering his mouth with his palm as he chuckled at the story.

"You were always there to take care of Haru-chan!" Nagisa declared, though Makoto wasn't sure where that idea came from either.

"Yeah," Haruka agreed. That stopped the other two swimmers from laughing. Rei, Nagisa and Makoto looked at Haruka in surprise.

Makoto felt a lump from in his throat as Haruka gave him a small smile as if he had just realized something for the first time.

"Thank you for taking such good care of me," Haruka closed his eyes and leaned forward, bowing in graditude towards Makoto.

Makoto raised his hands up as in surrender. This was embarrassing. There was no need for Haruka to bow to him. They were friends and as far as Makoto knew friends looked after each other. "Haru, that's enough. You don't need to-" but before he could go on, Rei and Nagisa were bowing to him too.

"Thank you for looking after me!" They said in near union, though Nagisa added "Ma-ma" at the end.

Makoto was sure his face was a fiery red. It sure felt that way to him. Stiffly he bowed back and somehow managed to stammer out "you're welcome," before thanking them for trusting him with their well-being, that seemed to restore the balance within the group and after Makoto threatened to make them do extra laps if they repeated the story, they Iwatobi swim club continued on their way towards the train station.


End file.
